Can office politics ever be positive?

Just say the word “Office Politics” – you sense the disdain. Quite obvious if we see the downside (pursuing own agenda regardless of what's good for colleagues or the company) of it.

But this is also true “Nobody exists in an atmosphere where everybody agrees”.

Politics is the art of trying to accomplish things within organizations – but:-
1. The intent should be to bring in competitiveness (Each person is interesting if you are interested enough to ask the right question)
2. Ensure Nobody wins unless everybody wins
3. Success always creates Opposition. Try to find out who opposes them, how deep the opposition is - Don't just ask for opinions; change them
4. Focus on the ‘goal’ (organisational not personal) not on the ‘relationship’
5. Maybe you’re still thinking of being the person at the office who abstains from office politics. Realize that you won’t last long - in the office, that is. Putting your head down and doing your work is a good way to ensure that you don’t connect with anyone. This situation is deadly in a world where people are hired for what they know and fired for who they are. People need to get to know you in order to like you.

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Responsibility vs. Accountability

1. Responsibility sometimes becomes a burden: A duty, obligation or liability to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion. With responsibility goes authority to direct and take the necessary action to ensure success. (How did you overlook this defect? That was your responsibility!)

2. To become ‘accountable’ is something driven internally – where your mind / heart is.

You can make a person responsible but can't make them accountable.

Accountability requires ‘commitment’ / ‘sense of ownership’.
Commitment comes from ‘self interest and confidence’.
‘Interest and confidence’ comes from ‘motivation and empowerment’.

So the bottom-line is "Empowerment and Motivation" makes a responsible person ‘accountable’.

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